Get Free Rides on Election Day

Trams, buses and the MTR will be free December 19

In order to boost the voter turnout at the polls next Sunday, the government has made all trams, trains, and buses free that day.

The scheme will cost an estimated HK$35 million (US$4.5 million), and the government did not say whether it will reimburse the companies involved.

Passengers on the MTR will not need to tap in to use the train, as well as KMB, New World First Bus, Citybus and Hong Kong Tramways.

Some operators say they are forced to waive fares

However, the free rides won't be available on airport and border routes, overnight services, KMB's luxury buses, or most routes covering south Lantau. Minibuses, or Kaito ferry services.

"MTR will closely monitor train service on that day and implement appropriate operational measures to meet passenger demand. There will also be additional staff assisting passengers at stations," the company said.

A spokesman for one transport concern group warned that "many people will just make use of the free rides for touring around the city."

Some transport operators agree, saying they were effectively being forced to bear the cost of forgone revenue.

Minibuses, ferries are not involved in the scheme

"It is very frustrating because the operators are forced to waive the fares," said one operator. "And riders could take advantage of the free rides for leisure and entertainment purposes."

It is strange for the government to make this offer in order to entice people to vote, since their polling station is walking distance from their homes...

BBQ in Aberdeen Country Park

Meats roasted in various stages including my char siu about to be cooked

We take a break from protest programming to describe an outing we had last Saturday.

Now that the weather has cooled down considerably, my relatives came up with the brilliant plan of having a barbecue -- at 10am.

We all met at Aberdeen Centre and from there took a short mini bus or a taxi ride up to Aberdeen Country Park where there are barbecue pits free of charge. For me it was the first time taking the no. 58 mini bus from Kennedy Town to Aberdeen Centre, which took about 20 minutes.

The country park has a nice (developed) setting for barbecues

One of my uncles who lives near there went ahead earlier and occupied one of the pits which is the perfect spot: under the trees for shade protection and next to a picnic bench. Nearby are public toilets and even a commissary should you need extra snacks and drinks to supplement your barbecue.

This uncle had already placed newspapers on top of the picnic bench, then a big plastic sheet over the table top and held it down with string in three places. So professional.

My other uncle and his son started the fire by arranging the charcoal bricks like a Jenga tower but with spaces in between. This turned out to be completely unnecessary once the fire started going and the charcoal became white and the tower collapsed.

They had also brought marinated meats along, like chicken wings (two kinds), thin pork fillets in a char siu marinade, and a selection of offal, like liver. There were also processed meats like sausages and even fish balls and squid balls. And being Chinese, we also had a container of pickled vegetables, fresh cabbage leaves, corn, and sweet potatoes that we placed in the pit to roast.

Walking along the path to the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

Once the fire toned down and the charcoal started turning white, that's when the real barbecuing began and it was quite fun sitting around shooting the breeze and slowly cooking our food. In the background I knew there were clashes going on at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, but this was a good way to get our minds elsewhere.

When I was pretty full, I asked my relatives where I could go for a walk and they gave me directions to walk to the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir. 

It was about a 15 minute walk up a gentle slope, where there are more barbecue pits. However they seemed to have attracted a family of wild pigs! The mother led her five piglets away from the barbecue pits and into the hillside and for me it was my first encounter with wild pigs so close up. The mother didn't seem to mind us humans, otherwise she would have been defensive in protecting her piglets.

A family of wild pigs near a barbecue site!

I walked passed them and kept going until I hit the upper reservoir, and it was quite an impressive sight. There were also lots of butterflies everywhere, enjoying the sun.

The Upper and Lower reservoirs were built to supply water to the west side of Hong Kong Island. The project began in 1929 and finished two years later. The Upper Reservoir stores up to 820,000 cubit metres of water, and together with the Lower Reservoir have a total capacity of 1.23 million cubic metres that served 850,000 residents.

From here I turned around to go back and again encountered the same wild pig family, that seemed to like to linger in the area... I wonder why...

When I came back the fire was perfect for roasting marshmallows and helped my cousins get that golden brown, slightly crunchy on the outside, and wobbly gooey inside. I couldn't help eating a few myself!

A scenic view of the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

We finished in the late afternoon and needless to say there was no need for dinner except for some fruit! But it was also a good mini escape from the stress of the protests and enjoy a bit of nature (and food).

The Futuristic Railway Station

The exterior of the Hong Kong West Kowloon Railway Station

Today we played tourist in Hong Kong and decided to check out the Hong Kong West Kowloon Railway Station, that is also known as Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High Speed Railway, Hong Kong High Speed Rail Station, and Express Rail Link West Kowloon Terminus.

How about choosing one name and then sticking with it?

Inside the columns are very impressive, and high ceilings

At the time we were at the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui and asked the Hong Kong Tourism Board staff there how to get to the railway station. They suggested taking the 77M minibus, but that we should take it to the terminus (Kowloon Station) and then walk over.

We waited and waited for the green minibus and then we gave up and walked a few metres when I turned around and saw that it had stopped at the bus stop. We ran to the minibus and got on. I asked the minibus driver if we could get off at the railway station and he waved his hand to say yes.

It just seems strange that the bus routes, especially in Tsim Sha Tsui haven't adjusted to include the railway station stop, even though it's so close by. Surely many tourists and people like us would like to get there too from Tsim Sha Tsui?

The station located right across from Austin Station, and a short walk to Kowloon Station. The outside of the railway station looks like a bunch of waves made of steel, but inside it looks very futuristic and impressive.

The space is very airy and highly accessible

There are very high ceilings in there and it's highly accessible for everyone, though there seems to be only one elevator from what we could see. We wandered down to the ticket vending machines as well as the ticket counter. It was quite busy with lots of people dragging suitcases around, or people like us checking out the station.

I did notice periodically there were large poles that were covered in cameras. Some were conveniently located at "meeting points" to suss everyone out. It was quite daunting to see so many cameras staring at you. Has anyone pointed this out before?

In terms of food there are many options, though some were just take-away places, including Starbucks that had no place for people to sit. We did manage to get a bite to eat at Tim Ho Wan upstairs, though there was quite a bit of MSG in the food. The wontons in chilli sauce were terribly disappointing -- the meat filling was too ground up with no texture, but the shrimp and spinach dumplings were good.

The Xiqu Centre (left) is only a few minutes' walk away

When we left the station to visit the nearby Xiqu Centre, an opera house designed by Vancouver architect Bing Thom, we noticed there were people on the roof of the railway station! So after our quick visit to Xiqu (where there is still construction going on), we returned to the station and went to the only elevator we could find.

We had to wait a while to finally get in, but when we got to L2, we were rewarded with a panoramic view of the area -- Tsim Sha Tsui, Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong Island, and West Kowloon. Instead of taking the elevator down, we found a long stairway that follows the curve of the building, with plants lined along the route.

It's a good thing we took the elevator up to the roof because it would have been too daunting to climb up all those stairs! We made our way down and then walked to Elements shopping mall, where Kowloon Station is.

The long stairway up to the roof of the railway station

While reaching the mall only took minutes, it took another 10 minutes to finally get to the actual MTR station.

Nevertheless, it was a good way to become more familiar with the railway station, even if they are watching you all the time...

Hong Kong in Transport Chaos

Thousands of people stuck in commuter hell in Tai Wai station this morning

The aftermath of Typhoon Mangkhut left lots of fallen trees, debris strewn everywhere, flooding in some parts of Hong Kong and broken glass on the ground.

The Education Department decided early on to cancel school today, while bus companies said only a handful of buses would be in service because the roads were not completely cleared.

That left the MTR having to do the heavy lifting today in getting over 3 million people to work today, but it was a complete disaster, particularly for those in the New Territories.

People waited for several trains before they could get on

The East Rail Line from Tai Po Market to Sheung Shui was suspended because the overhead power lines weren't working, which left people at and between these stops wondering how they were going to get into town if buses weren't running.

Taxis had a field day, constantly picking up passengers who were desperate to get to work.

As a result it took many people an hour longer to get to work.

The pictures of people stranded in these stations are horrific -- and I thought rush hour at Admiralty was bad.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had asked that employers be more lenient on employees coming in late, but not all of them heeded her words. Some people told reporters that they bosses were chasing them on the phone while they were stuck in commuter hell.

Many vented their frustration on Lam's Facebook page, with 6,700 comments complaining that perhaps the government should have told companies to take the day off before the roads were cleared.

Others going short distances walked instead, luckily no rain

However, it is not the government's jurisdiction to do that; when it comes to education, the authorities can decide whether schools should close or not.

And besides, Hong Kong is a money-making town -- Terence Chong Tai-leung, Chinese University associate professor of economics, said if the entire city did not work on Monday, economic losses could amount to about HK$7.3 billion (US$930 million). He calculated this by dividing Hong Kong's gross domestic product last year by 365 days.

Some companies are already making razor thin profit margins and need the business day to pay rent and so on...

There really should have been a discussion last night between the government and the transport companies -- the MTR, buses, mini buses and taxis about the situation and a coordinated effort on how they were going to get people to and from work today.

Maybe in this case only essential staff should have tried to get to work in the morning, and non-essential staff come in the afternoon or work from home if they could.

Then perhaps there wouldn't be such chaos and frustration affecting thousands of people because there were glaring spots where transport links weren't connecting at all.

Other than that Hong Kong functions very well for the most part, but in these special cases, there needs to be more patience and understanding by some, and better planning and communications by others...

A future case study for future government officials?

Safety First

The green minibus on its side, with four dead after a truck rammed into it

On the day I left for Vancouver there was a tragic accident in Pat Heung, New Territories involving a minibus and a truck.

The two vehicles collided in an intersection in broad daylight. From a video taken from a vehicle on the opposite side of the intersection the truck was traveling on, it seems the truck did not stop, though a double-decker bus did, and the green minibus did not.

The minibus fell on its side and slid to the other side of the intersection. Four people died, including a three-month-old baby girl, and 14 others injured.

There are calls for passengers traveling in any vehicles to wear seat belts, and this is absolutely important. Maybe some of those lives could have been saved. And perhaps the Legislative Council should consider making it mandatory for anyone in a moving vehicle to wear a seat belt.

By the same token, these minibus drivers are notorious for driving recklessly. Everyone knows that getting into one of these tin cans, especially those going to and from the New Territories, means putting their lives at risk, even if they used to joke about it until now.

Why hasn't the police cracked down on these drivers for going beyond the speed limit? They are responsible for everyone who sits in their minibuses. But no, they are thinking more about how much money they can make, which means driving faster to get as many trips in as possible.

This thinking is completely wrong and has to stop.

Also -- there are many buses, mini buses and taxis where the seat belts aren't working or no where to be found. Again this issue must be fixed as soon as possible, particularly on mini buses and taxis.

It's time Hong Kong people demand safety as a priority when it comes to public transport. And buckle up.